Furniture and method of making same



March 4 192:4.:4

J. H. BERNS, JR.. ET AL FURNITURE `AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed July 5, 1922 v l 3mm/16oz John Hemy ermsyv Patented hier., d, 1924,

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JOHN Baars, Je., aan.) RUDOLPH Home or @Aulla anonime.

FURNITURE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME- App-l'cationled 1111573, 1922.' Serial N'o. 572,391.

To all whom t fur/, y concern Be it known that we, JOHN BERNS, Jr., and RUDOLPH Houn'r, citizens of the United States, residing at Tampa, in the county of Hillsborough and State of Florida, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furniture and Methods of Making Same; and we do hereby declare the following tol be a full, clear, and exact description of the in. vention, such as will enable others skilled. in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the ac- Compa iying drawings, and tothe letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to furniture and the method of mak-ing the same, and has especial reference to furniture made or constructed of willow, reeds, rattan, or similar material which is now or may hereafter be ordinarily or customarily employed for the purpose, and has for an object to provide a new and improved means for attaching the reeds or the like to the rigid portion of the frameV structure.

A. further object of the invention isto. provide a seat or other rigid frame'member com prising a part of an article of furniture having about its outer edge a plurality of spaced perfor-ations extending inwardly with the ends of the reeds or the' like from which the furniture is completed, inserted in the perforations and bent substantially or approxi- 1 mately at right angles to the plane of the rigid structure and held in position in such perforations by the fabric of the later applied reed members.

Vllith these and other objects in view the invention comprises certain novel parts,l constructions, arrangements, inter-actions and functions, as'disclosed in the drawings, together with mechanical and functional equivalents thereof as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a view of an article of furniture specifically representing a chair seen in rear elevation, parts being broken away to show the invention involved therein;

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken on the same line as the section of Figure l; and

Figure 3 is a top plan view of a part of the rigid structure showing the manner of attaching the reed work thereto.

an article of furniture but the manner( of` making the same from various elongated and more or less flexible materials, such as willow, reed, rattan or the like, and which will be for convenience hereinafter referred to` only as reed, it being understood, however, that the term is broad enough and is used to indicate any materials from which furniture of the type may be constructed, whether naturally or artificially produced.

lt is well known that in the manufacture of reed furniture a rigid frame isy employed, usually constituting the seat of the article if it be of the nature of a chair, or the like and to this rigid structure legs are applied and then the article completed by weaving the reeds thereon in artistic and fanciful manner to complete the shape of the article desired and for ornamental purposes. lt has been found that the connection of this reed structure to the rigid structure presents features of difficulty in that connection, is dithcult to attain and maintain.y ln the present invention thevrigid structure is represented by the chair seat 10, it being understood, of course, that the illustration of a chair is only for the purpose of illustrating the construction and in no way to limit the invention to a chair as distinguished from any other article of furniture, to which the invention may apply. To this frame seat member l() legs' ll are attached in any approved manner, as the attaching of the legs forms no part of the present invention. The outer edge or peripheral edge of the seat frame, no matter what may be its shape, is perforated with spaced openings 12 which extend normally on substantially a horizontal plane from the outer edge of the seat member inwardly. It will be understood, however, that in some instances it might be found desirable to produce these perforations in the inner edge of such seat member, depending upon the nature of the construction, which construction is fully covered'in the present invention and to be considered the equivalent of the construction shown.

The reeds which extend downwardly from the seat member and indicated at 13, are attached to this seat member by forming a bend at 14 with the end l5 inserted into the perforations 12. In practice, of course, these ends will be inserted before bending and the bend formed after being inserted, but in the completed article the bend will appear, and as this is directed to the manufacture and article itself, attention is, therefore, invited not only to the manner of inserting and then bending, but to the possibility of first bending and then inserting.

About these downwardly extending reeds 13 a woven structure 16 is produced tending to hold the several members 13 with the inserted ends 15 rigidly in the perforations. it is to be understood, of course, that there is no limitation upon also securing these ends in the perforations auxiliary to this means, as for instance by adhesives or by penetrating members, although in practice it will ordinarily not be found necessary to employY auxiliary means, and the invention includes the construction with no means for securing the ends in the sockets other than the woven fabric structure formed upon these downwardly extending reeds 13.

It is to be understood, of course, that the woven fabric structure which holds these reeds 13 in position will be wholly in accordance with the skill or taste of the manufacturer or requirements of use and the type of fabric suggested at Figure 1 is not intended to in any way indicate the fabric to be employed or to be any limitation upon the invention or the use of any other type or design of fabric desired.

Ordinarily also upon the base of the article so formed, comprising the seat, the legs and the retaining fabric structure., a superstructure or top 17 will be erected, although that forms no part of the present invention and only enters into the manufacture and completion of a useful or desirable structure. For some purposes, as for instance, seats without backs, hassocks or the like, no superstructure will be employed and the invention will be complete by the weaving of the fabric below the seat for holding the vertical or substantially vertical strands of reed 13 in their proper relation to the framework 12, whether that be a seat structure or for other purposes.

What we claim is:

1. An article of furniture comprising a rigid frame structure and a reed structure comprising reeds extending at substantially right angles to the plane of the frame structure and having their ends inserted into the edge of the frame structure at substantially right angles to their major axis forming said angles substantially at the edge o-f the frame and a woven fabric carried by such inserted reeds maintaining the inserted ends in position.

2. An article of furniture comprising a rigid frame, reeds having their ends inserted into sockets in the edge of the frame and bent substantially at right angles substantially at the said edge, and means to maintain said inserted ends in position comprising material interwoven with said reeds to form a fabric, the plane of which is ap`- proximately perpendicular to the axis of the inserted ends.

In testimony whereof we hereunto aiiix our signatures.

' JOHN H. BERNS, JR.

RUDOLPH HOEDT. 

